The Crystal War
by 1Serenity1Rose1
Summary: This fic is based off Cutie Re-Mark Part 1. Specifically, the war against King Sombra and the Crystal Empire. This is my first fan fiction, so I would love for any and all comments/feedback. Thanks for taking the time to read my work. :) Rated T for violence. (It is a war after all)
1. Prologue

This is a quick backstory of my new (and first) fanfiction! :)

First off, this fan-fic takes place in the alternate reality of Cutie Re-Mark Part 1. Specifically, the reality where Equestria is at war with King Sombra and the Crystal Empire. My fic will follow 5 of the Mane 6 (Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow, AJ, and Fluttershy) in there efforts and parts against the war. This chapter is merely some information on each of those ponies that I couldn't fit into the story. Because it is not proved otherwise, I am going to assume that everypony has their original Cutie Mark. It isn't necessary for you to read this, but I defiantly recommend that you do. While the small amount of screen-time the war had, I found it inspiring, but because the episode doesn't go into detail about the detail I am making up lots of the story line.

 **The War**  
The Crystal War began when King Sombra regained control of the Crystal Empire. When Sombra began the war, Celestia fled to Cloudsdale, and immediately began the war effort. She demanded that groups of pegasi go to every town and city, and alert their mayor of the growing threat. Every city was assigned to a certain industry. Towns like Ponyville, Appleoosa, and Dodge City were dedicated to farming. Pegasi cities such as Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus were dedicated to training troops, and building sky bases. White Tail Woods, and the Smokey Mountain were used for lumber. Manehattan and Fillydelphia were the production capitals of Equestria. And finally Foal Mountain and Baltimare were full of hospitals and clinics. All the injured are transported to those cities. Instead of wandering around trying out different professions, the Cutie Mark Draft assigned everypony to a certain job. Based on everyponies Cutie Mark they were assigned a job. The fashion ponies made uniforms, farming ponies provided food for the troops, and athletic ponies became the troops. Unfortunately, ponies destined for singing, or floral arrangements had no purpose in the war. Those ponies underwent a series of physical and mental tests, based on those results they were assigned to different parts of the war effort. Of course everypony had the option to volunteer as a soldier. But unless they were drafted, almost nopony volunteered. Who would chose a life of battle over a miserably stable job.

 **Rarity  
** Rarity works for a company in Manehattan called Frontlines. This company has several buildings spread out across Manehattan and is one of Equestria's biggest war assets. Each building is set up the same, for optimal efficiency. The first five floors are residential. For all the laborers who work in the building. The sixth floor is the mess hall. Open all day because of the free-will based work schedule. Floors seven, eight, and nine are dedicated to food production and packaging. Floors ten, eleven, and twelve are dedicated to garments. All the floors above that are used for various war resources. Rarity works on level twelve and lives on level four. Her best friend, Glimmer Shine and her have workstations right next to each other. Each workstation has a sewing kit, a sewing machine, a red bin, and a green bin. The red bin is filled every Monday with all the orders the worker is expected to complete every week. Every time they complete an order, they put to order sheet into the green bin. Laborers are paid every month because of the few things workers need (everything is provided by Frontlines) they often save up, hoping for a better life after the war.

 **Fluttershy**  
Fluttershy owns and operates a ranch. The ranch is named Butterfly Ranch (after her Cutie Mark). She shears sheep, milks cows, and collects eggs. She is one of many farmers that sells her goods to the Frontlines company. That is her sole source of income. She lives a very solitary life, because she does not have time to socialize with other ponies. There is always farm work to be done. Butterfly Ranch is located South of Baltimare, and is set up as follows: Her small cottage is located in the center of Butterfly Ranch. Right before her front door, is her sheep. She shears them monthly. To the right of her house is the chicken coop and small enclosed area for the chickens. To the left is her cow barn. Behind her house is a huge pasture where her chickens, sheep, and cows roam daily. Every month she sells all of her products. She sells them like that in order to keep that schedule in sync with her sheep-shearing schedule. For food she has a small grain farm to feed the animals, but for herself, she travels to Baltimare to buy food. Every time she returns with food, she often preserves it into a less-perishable form. It's never a bad idea to prepare for disaster.

 **Rainbow Dash**  
Rainbow Dash is the Commander of the Cloud235 Legion. It is a little know secret, but the Cloud235 Legion is actually home-base of Princess Celestia. Rainbow Dash is in command of 250 troops, although the base is large for only housing 250 troops. Because it is the new home of the princess, powerful unicorns cast spells of protection on the border clouds, making them hard as stone but light weight as, well, a cloud. Because of her status, Rainbow Dash shares living quarters with Princess Celestia. Although Celestia is rarely in their living quarters due to meetings, summits, reports, and war planning. Cloud235 is set up for convenience. With living quarters set up on the outskirts, with the living quarters of Generals more towards the center. In the center, Is the mess hall, War Council Hall, and the living quarters of Rainbow and Celestia. The base is located Southwest of the Crystal Empire, but blends into its surroundings so well, that Sombra has no idea it even exists. Equestrian flags are hung from every structure. Always good to try and keep up moral.

 **Apple Jack**  
Apple Jack, with her brother, operate Sweet Apple Acres. They oversee the canning process while their hired farm ponies harvest apples, oranges, carrots, grapes, and when the season is right, zap apples. Every year the push out food for hundreds of troops. When the war began, they sold all their animals to some pegasus from Ponyville. Applejack and Big Mac are always coming up with ways to preserve and ship out their goods. They can, dry, and bake the apples, zap apples, grapes, carrots, and oranges. Ponies from Manehattan come every other month to take all of the food they produced. Some of the food is sent directly to the army, but most of it is sent to Frontlines. The cooks there make it into more appetizing food for the laborers and soldiers. Everypony has to eat, no matter how bad it tastes.

 **Pinkie Pie**  
Pinkie Pie is one of Rainbow Dash's 250 troops. Her and her sister Maud share living quarters on Cloud235. Because she and her sister are Earth ponies, Celestia cast a spell on them (and the other Earth Ponies and unicorns) that allowed them to walk on clouds. Their living quarters is simple, with bunk beds in the corner, a table in the middle, and two chests. One for each pony. Pinkie Pie collects something from all the places the war has taken her. A tree branch, a small crystal, and a jar of melted snow. Maud keeps more simple things. Specifically rocks. One from all three battles she has survived. They both keep a small pouch of Bits. Soldiers don't get paid much, because there is nowhere for the to shop and nothing they need to buy. Maud and Pinkie talk about opening a store one day. Pinkie wants to start a bakery, but Maud wants to open a rock store. Ponies always try to find hope, no matter how unlikely it may seem.

* * *

 **A/N** This is just a prologue of sorts. I hope you enjoyed. The first chapter will be up very soon! Please tell me what you think of the backstory I've written do far, and I promise the actual chapters will be longer than this.  
\- Serenity Rose 


	2. Rarity

Rarity woke with a start. She sighed wistfully as she looked around her drab and small living quarters. It was so minuscule that her bed and table (the only furniture in her possession) filled the room beyond the 'cozy' standard. She got out of bed and put on her old, worn uniform. Once she was dressed she left her room, not bothering to lock the door. What was worth stealing in there anyway?

Rarity walked down the hall, lights flickering ominously, into the mess hall. The line already reached the doorway, and Rarity huffed and she stood there. She shouldn't have slept in. Eventually the slow moving line brought her to the table. She looked at the tired cafeteria pony, and asked for oatmeal. The pony fixed her oatmeal, put a few strawberries in the bowl, and put an orange beside it.

 _Hmm, an orange?_ Rarity thought to herself, shocked, as the usual fruit of choice was an apple. _The farms must be doing well this season._

Using her magic, Rarity levitated her tray and took her meal to a table in the corner. She sat before the wobbly table and distastefully prodded her oatmeal with a spoon. She took a bite, grimacing at the stale oats and dried strawberries. Unhappily, she finished her oatmeal, and peeled to orange. No one cared about the conditions of the workforce.

 _Wonderful!_ she thought, _Some fruit that isn't old and dry!_

She greedily ate the orange, relishing each bite of the juicy fruit. They must have come from the farms just outside of Fillydelphia. She finished her meal and took her tray to another bored looking cafeteria pony. The pony took it, nodding at her in greeting, and immediately began to clean it off. Of course there wasn't much to clean. There never was. Food was _not_ plentiful, and everypony ate everything they were given.

Rarity trotted out of the mess hall, and headed to the work floor. The elevator dinged, and she strode into the elevator. She pressed the grimy button for the 12th floor of the building. The 3rd garment floor. The lift took her up, and came to a slow, grinding halt. The doors opened with a creak, and Rarity waltzed out and to her work station. As usual her friend, Glimmer Shine was already at her station, working on a pair of white pants. She peered into her red bin to see a small stack of papers. It was Monday, so the papers were new. All the orders she needed to complete by Sunday, each written on the paper. Completed with color, material, location of shipment, and legion ID, the paper gave instructions for all the garments.

The first paper was for a white snow-coat, and was going to the front lines to the Cloud235 Legion. _A sky base. One advantage Equestria had over King Sombra and his Crystal Empire, pegasi and unicorns._ This particular jacket would have wool on the inside and golden trim. _A commanders jacket._

Rarity went to the supply closet to pick up the wool, white fabric, white and gold thread. The held the objects in her magical grip, and trotted back to her work station. She set all her things out, organizing them and getting the order sheet out of her red bin. She began to sew the wool into the plain white fabric.

"So how was breakfast?" Glimmer Shine asked with a heavy Manehattan accent.

"Stale." Rarity replied bitterly.

"Sorry Rare." Glimmer replied. She knew how much Rarity missed fresh food from Ponyville. "What are you working on there?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"A Commanders jacket for Cloud235."

"Ooh, that's nice."

"Yes, I suppose."

Glimmer decided to end their conversation on that note. She knew rarity better than anypony in Manehattan, and knew Rarity's favorite food was oatmeal. Eating the stale oats from the mess hall would get anypony down. She just wasn't they type of pony to adapt quickly. And to a war no less. Glimmer ignored Rarity's unpleasant mood for the time being to focus on her new stack of papers. Rarity did the same.

She had just finished sewing all the wool into the white fabric. She had more than enough, but kept the extra in case she made a mistake. Rarity walked slowly to the corner of the workroom to get a mannequin. She took the old, beat up mannequin to her station and set it off to the side.

"Can I use that when you're done with it?" Glimmer asked Rarity.

"Yes, of course." she replied as she went back to work. She used her mannequin to assemble the pieces. First the bodice, then the sleeves, and finally the hood. She took the pieces off the mannequin and began to put them together. She stitched the sleeves onto the bodice, then sewed the hood to the front of the jacket. To finish it off she took her golden thread and begun to sew the edges with gold. She did it on all of the outside edges, heavily on the hood. The coat was finished.

She looked at the order sheet to make sure all the requirements were met. She nodded in satisfaction as she read. Wool lined? Check. Gold trim? Check. With everything up to code she got her quill and ink to sign the document. As soon as her signature was written in fresh ink, she placed it in the green bin. Then took the new coat to the basket labeled " **Rarity Week 96** " _96 weeks at war._ She thought with a sigh.

Her first garment of the week was complete. The whole thing took about an hour. She turned her head to the dusty clock behind her. It was 9:23. Her next order sheet was for a gray battle uniform, headed for Prairie2. Rarity passed her mannequin to Glimmer Shine, and went back to the supply closet. She grabbed the last roll of gray stretchy fabric. There was never enough of it to go around. Ponies always needed new uniforms.

As soon as Glimmer Shine was done with the mannequin, she took it back and begun to cut out the pieces of the uniform. Instead of the sleeves cutting off at the hooves, they wrapped around them. Rarity wrapped the fabric around the legs of the mannequin, and pinned them in place. Then she cut the piece for the main part of the uniform. As soon as she pinned it in its position, and bell went off in the workroom.

The bell meant lunch was being served in the mess hall. But because ponies were free to eat whenever they pleased (as long as they always finished their weekly orders) not many ponies went off to lunch.

"Glimmer, do you wanna go eat after I sew these sleeves on?" Rarity asked her friend.

"Sure, Rare." Glimmer said with a smile, happy to see her friend in a better mood.

Rarity sewed all four sleeves with ease. Each one quicker than the last. When she finished, Glimmer and Rarity walked to the elevator. Once inside the elevator, Glimmer pushed the button for the 6th floor. As the lift slowly went down, Glimmer Shine spoke, "So what were you working in there?"

"Just a battle uniform for Prairie2." Rarity replied as the elevator stopped on the 6th floor. "Wonder what's for lunch today?"

"I don't know, let's go see." Glimmer said as they exited the lift. They walked into the mess hall together. Rarity sighed with relief to see that the line was much shorted than it was this morning. The line was short enough for them to see there was mac n' cheese for lunch. And a side of baby carrots and fruit.

As the line moved, they got closer to the table and each grabbed a tray. They pushed the trays forward, and a scoop of mac n' cheese was placed on both of them. Further down the line they received the carrots and an apple. After they both got all their food, they levitated their trays. They walked over to the closest empty table and sat down.

"Do you wanna do something after dinner tonight?" Glimmer asked.

"Sure! My place or yours?" Rarity responded.

"Mine." Glimmer said confidently, "I have something I wanna show you."

"Alright." Rarity said as she took a bite of her mac n' cheese. Glimmer decided to go for the apple first. Glimmer finished her apple quickly and moved on to the baby carrots. Once she had eaten most of them, but put two to the side.

"Are you gonna eat those?" Rarity asked as she finished her own carrots off.

"It's part of the surprise!" Glimmer said excitedly.

"Okay." replied Rarity. The two unicorns finished off their meals, but went their separate ways. Rarity went back to her work, but Glimmer went... somewhere else. Rarity didn't know. Instead of going back _up_ to the workroom, she went to a lower floor. _Maybe she went back to her living quarters for a nap?_ Rarity thought. It made sense too.

She moved quickly to her station, and began to put the finishing touches on the uniform. She took her scissors and cut out a circle on the flank of the uniform. The bare flank was so Commanders could identify their troops. It also helped for identification if a pony didn't survive a battle. Once the flank was bare, she sewed two patches on the chest of the uniform. The first one, identified a pony as a Private. The lowest rank in the army. The second was the Prairie2 logo. A green field with the number two in the lower right corner.

 _Two garments done already? At this rate I can take extra work by Thursday, and get a bonus on Sunday!_

Excited at the prospect of extra Bits, she eagerly signed the order document. After placing it in her red bin, she trotted off to her basket and dropped the uniform in. Quickly she looked at her next assignment, and was immediately saddened. It was another battle uniform, but for Mountain12. Mountain12 was the front line. A pony was lucky to leave that unit with _major_ injuries. The pony that received this uniform, would likely die in it. Luckily she still had the roll of material for the uniforms. As she rolled it out on her table, Glimmer came back to her own station. As soon as Rarity didn't say hello, she knew something was wrong.

"Oh no! You were in such a good mood at lunch, what happened?" Glimmer asked after her observation.

"This uniform is for Mountain12." Rarity said glumly.

That was all it took. Everypony knew about Mountain12. Nopony liked to talk about it, and why would they? Who wants to talk about ponies dying in a war that never should have happened?

She repeated the same steps from the last uniform. Sleeves, bodice, cover the hooves. She sewed all the pieces together, but she put a small purple star on the belly of it. She always did that for anything that was going to Mountain12. She didn't want whoever got the uniform to die in something exactly like the pony next to them. It was a little thing, and maybe her supervisor saw it, and let it be. Ponies were very sympathetic to anyone, and anything going to Mountain12.

She finished with the hole on the flank, and the two patches. One for a Private, and the other for Mountain12. The logo for Mountain12 was simply a mountain with the number twelve in the center. With another uniform complete, Rarity signed her sheet and put the uniform in her basket.

She was done for today. Too many battle uniforms, and with three orders complete, she had a good pace for some extra Bits by the end of the week.

"You wanna show me that surprise, Glimmer?" Rarity asked as she walked over to her friends station.

"Sure, Rare. Just.. Let... Me finish... There!" she said as she finished the hood on her raincoat. "Lets go to my room."

The ponies walked out of their workroom and pushed a worn elevator button. once inside the elevator took them to the second level. Glimmer Shine's room was right in front of the elevator, so they walked in quickly. When Rarity saw what was in Glimmer's room, she was awestruck. There was a green plant-light, and so many pots and cups underneath it. Off to the side was a larger watering can, and a book, titled _Growing Your Food Indoors._

"Glimmer, is this- are you.." Rarity stammered.

"I figured, since the war was going no where soon, I would spend my money on something that could make me happy. So I went to a store and bought these things. I've been saving some of my food to start growing more." Glimmer explained.

"This is amazing!" Rarity said to her best friend.

* * *

 **A/N** I really hope you enjoyed this chapter of The Crystal War. I worked really hard to make this chapter entertaining. If you have any critiques, please tell me in the comments, if not I would love if you just shared your thoughts in a comments. While I encourage constructive-criticism, please no hate. The next chapter will be in Fluttershy's perspective!


	3. Authors Note IMPORTANT

Hello everyone!

Firs of all, let me apologize. I know looking a story you follow and seeing the new chapter is just an authors note. But I seem to have begun this fic at a very inconvenient time.

My first excuse is school. I am in high school and as you can imagine the homework is starting to pile up. It seems all my teachers are trying to make up for all the time we lost over winter break! Another thing is, my school has blocked on its WiFi. So I can't work from school.

My second excuse is Winterguard. I participate in my schools Winterguard team. For those of you who don't know, Winterguard is the group of people who dance with flags, rifles, and sabers. I had a 12 hour, all-day Winterguard rehearsal yesterday, and I am very tired. I will try to push out another chapter by Friday this week, but I now have Winterguard practice every Friday and Sunday, so the progression of this fic will be slowed. I promise I will not give up on this fic!


	4. Fluttershy

**A/N** Please note, the Rarity chapter occurred on a Monday. In terms of the story, this chapter takes place on a Tuesday. Also, I just wanted to apologize 1. for this being so late, and 2. for any typos. I just had a Winterguard rehearsal, and I am very tired. 1

* * *

Fluttershy woke to the sound of her clucking chickens. Sleepily, she gazed over at her old, battered red alarm clock. Six a.m. _Time to get up._ She rolled out of bed, and fluffed her feathers and started to get ready. First she went down to her kitchen. Her kitchen was a small room with a one burner stove, and a small counter. _What should I have for breakfast?_ she wondered.

There weren't many options. War rations were small, and she didn't like to hoard the food she farmed for herself. She decided to simply eat Oaty-O's. A bland cereal that was nothing more than oats with a light sugar glaze. She poured her Oaty-O's into a chipped blue bowl, and splashed some milk inside. She only allowed herself one jug of milk per week. It was such a luxury, and she needed to sell it to make her living.

She lived outside of Baltimare, and sold everything she farmed to pay for her land. She worked all day, woke up early and stayed up late just to make ends meet. _Ends meet? Oh no!_ Her payment to the real estate company was due by the end of the week, and she didn't have nearly enough Bits. 500 Bits due in three days, and she only had 224 Bits.

After she ate all her Oaty-O's she put her bowl in her sink, and put on her old green boots. She gently flew out her front door. _The ranch is so beautiful in the sunrise._ Her first task of the day was to milk the cows. She gracefully flew over to the cow barn, and grabbed a bucket from her storage closet. She began with her first cow, Ema. When she was done milking Ema, she had filled her bucket up halfway. She moved on to her second cow, and filled the bucket. She moved through her six cows and when she was done, she had three buckets of milk. When she sealed all the buckets, she flew back to her storage room.

Behind her big storage room where she kept buckets, hay and shovels, there was a magical room. She had it enchanted by a powerful unicorn. It was cold in that room, permanently. That was where she stored her milk and eggs. To keep them fresh. Frontlines paid so much more when the milk and eggs were properly stored. She neatly stacked two of the buckets on top of the current stack. With her third bucket she began a new stack. She counted her buckets. 10 buckets of milk. That is more than usual. Maybe she would get enough to pay her bills.

With all the cows milked, she the six of them out into her pasture.

"Good girls." Fluttershy murmured.

The cows grazed in a little group, and Fluttershy began to clean their stables. She used her shovels to scoop out the old bedding, and laid more out. After she disposed of the old bedding, she refilled their water troughs.

The cow were taken care of. _Time to move on to the chickens._ She unlocked the hatch of the chicken coop's door, and it flew open with a creak. The chickens swarmed out in a stampede of feathers, and Fluttershy flew ahead of them and opened the gate. The chickens continued to run through the gate and into the pasture to join the cows. All of her animals shared a pasture, it was easier to keep track of them, and it costs less that way.

With the chickens outside, she began to collect the eggs in a small, woven basket. The ten chickens had produced eight eggs for today. After she set the eggs safely aside she began to clean out their nests. She replaced the hay in their nests, filled the water trough, and poured seed into their food tin. The chickens were taken care of and would return to their coop at sunset.

Tomorrow was sheep sheering day, so all she had to do today was clean up after the sheep. She swiftly cleaned the stables, put them out to pasture, and refilled their water and feed bowls. When all the animals were tended to, she flew to her small wheat patch, and began to pull the weeds out of the soil.

She had to tend this patch of wheat. She could never afford to buy food in town for the animals, so she was forced to grow it herself. A few of the sprouts were growing taller in the corners, and she watered them to help them grow. None of the plants were ready to be harvested, so she moved on. She was starting a project behind the cow barn, and it would hopefully help her save money on food.

She wanted to plant a garden and grow most of her own food. Of course it had to be manageable. She couldn't hire anyone to tend a huge garden, so it had to be small. She decided to make it 3x3 feet big. One square foot per crop. All she had to do now was decide what to grow. But, it was lunch time and she needed to eat in order to keep up the work. She trotted back into her home for lunch.

When she looked in the pantry, she saw she had half a loaf of stale bread, and a few scoops of strawberry jam. She slapped a little jam on a slice of the bread, and ate it distastefully. She poured herself a glass of water and downed the whole thing. She gulped, and went back outside, and back to her new garden.

Every square foot of her garden was separate from the others, each surrounded by a wooden box. Tomorrow she would go to town to buy some seeds to start growing her food, but first the plots needed to be ready. She used a shovel to till the dirt. Since all the farm work for the day was complete, and nothing needed repairs, she worked on the garden until sunset.

 _Sunset? Time to bring the animals in, eat dinner, and go to bed. A long day tomorrow._ She put her shovel in the storage closet of the cow barn, and went to the gate. She had a whistle hanging from a hook on a fence post. She picked it up a blew it, calling the animals in for the night. When they all returned to their pens she went to her home, where she put together a small salad dinner of old lettuce. After chocking the nasty salad down, she went to bed on her lumpy mattress.

* * *

 **(Wednesday)**

Fluttershy woke up and clumsily flopped of her bed. She shakily stood up and started her day with more stale Oaty-O's, and the last of her milk. She repeated her steps from the day before. Milking, cleaning, feeding, collecting eggs, cleaning, feeding. But this time she sheared the sheep. Cutting off all the wool with precision. After shearing all ten of them, she had two big brown baskets full of wool.

She carried them, taking two trips, and put them both near her tools in the storage closet. Tomorrow she would sell all the things she had collected over the past month, and hopefully make enough to pay her bills. She had 20 Bits saved up to pay for food, or anything else she might need. All the other money had to go toward paying for her land. She only had two more payments left before the land was legally hers. This payment, and the next.

After all the animals were tended to she packed her saddle bag and started to fly towards Baltimare.

* * *

When she finally arrived in Baltimare, the city streets were bursting with busy ponies. She saw laborers, and seamstresses, and all sorts of different ponies. The one thing they all had in common, none of them were happy. All of them bustling about, not paying any attention to one another. To avoid the pulsing crowd of shoving ponies, she flew slightly above the crowd, as she had seen pegasi do on her previous trips to Baltimare.

It was time for lunch, but she needed to buy her seeds before spending money on lunch. The farming depot shop was two blocks down. Unlike the ponies that worked and lived in the city, she did not have all day. Hustling towards the farming shop, she passed many dull shops, and even more unhappy ponies. A bakery, and a farmer market, and several others, until she came upon the farming shop.

It was a crowded shop. Not because it was full of ponies, but because there were shelves and displays, crowding the walkways in between. The shop had a grand total of two ponies inside. Fluttershy, and the odd shopkeeper pony. He was odd, because he was smiling. A smiling pony in the midst of a sea of unhappy ponies.

"Hello, and welcome to my shop!" the pony cheered.

"Hello..." Fluttershy said warily, "Sir, if you don't mind my asking, why are you so happy?"

"Well," he replied,"because I might be the luckiest pony in Baltimare. All those unhappy ponies, doing jobs they were forced into, but I... I get to do what I was meant to do." he said as he gestured to his Cutie Mark.

It was a simple shop. That was his destiny, to run a shop. "Well good for you sir. I um, I'm starting a little garden and I need some seeds. Any recommendations?"

"Well yes, of course. Is this garden for food, or something else?'

"Food."

"Okay then, what kind of foods would you like to grow"

"Well, I've got nine square feet of garden, one square foot per crop, and maybe a berry bush on the side."

"Great, I know exactly what you need. First off, a tomato plant will grow fine in such a small spot. And for your berry bush, I would recommend a blackberry bush. It will grow to a nice size and produce many berries." he said as he placed two packages of seeds in front of her. "Oh, I forgot to ask. How much are you willing to spend on these here seeds?"

"10 Bits, will that be enough?"

"That will be more than enough, miss."

Fluttershy smiled at the news. "Oh, wonderful. What else do you think I should grow?"

"So nine crops, and a bush, and you need eight more. Correct?"

"That's right!"

"Great! Strawberry plants are small, so about four will fit in the plot. Carrots will grow nicely if planted in uniform rows. Potatoes, and radishes will grow well if you treat them the same as carrots. One lettuce plant can grow quite large in a square foot."

He rambled on about plants, and how to grow them. And Fluttershy listened intently. When he was done ranting about plants, Fluttershy picked out the ones she wanted. When she left she had a bag full of seeds, and a pot the shopkeeper gave to her for free. He was a kind pony, and obviously very happy. When all her purchases had been made she had 12 Bits left. Plenty of money for lunch. After eating at a fast-food wagon, she was back on her way to Butterfly Ranch.

* * *

 **A/N** Once again I just want to apologize for how late this chapter is. I worked until midnight to get it done, and I really hope you enjoy this. The next chapter will take place on Thursday. Please leave reviews and rest assured that I have worked out a schedule for writing.


	5. Rainbow Dash

**(Thursday, Week 96)**

* * *

Rainbow Dash awoke, early, as always. She always got up earlier than her troops. But not as early Celestia. The mess hall was right next to her living quarters, and sometimes she woke up in time to eat with the princess. As she walked through the fluffy cloud doors, she saw that today was one of those days.

"Good morning Rainbow Dash." the princess said.

"Good morning Princess." she replied, "What are you having today?"

"Oatmeal." Celestia said as she took a bite.

Rainbow Dash scrunched her nose up in disgust. She didn't have a taste for oatmeal. She flew over to the counter, and asked for hay pancakes. The cooks put them on a tray for you.

"Here you go Commander Dash." the cafeteria pony said.

"Thank you Nutmeg." Dash said to the pony. She knew everypony in the base by name.

She carried her tray over to the table Celestia was sitting at, and sat down across from her. It wouldn't be long before her troops came swarming in for breakfast. Rainbow wolfed her pancakes down, and Celestia chuckled at her poor terrible manners.

"My apologies, your Majesty." Dash said humorously.

Celestia actually laughed at that one, and Rainbow Dash joined her. Just as they calmed down, General Sunset Rose opened the doors and started the line, and the other generals and privates followed soon after.

"Commander." Sunset Rose acknowledged.

"General." Dash returned.

"Come on Rainbow Dash, we have a meeting with the War Council in ten minutes." Celestia said as she swallowed the last of her oatmeal.

"Oh alright." Dash hated Council Meetings.

The pegasus and the alicorn flew side by side, to the War Council Hall next door. The doors to the hall were even bigger than the mess hall doors. And the outside of the building was surrounded by tall columns, but the columns were nothing more than stacked clouds. The columns existed, only to hold up the second level of the hall. Rainbow dash reached the door before the princess, and held it open for her.

"Thank you." Celestia nodded.

The ponies went inside. Celestia, in a slow walk, to maintain grace in front of the council. Rainbow Dash on the other hoof, had no such reputation to uphold, and dashed to her seat in in the back of the room.

The hall had two layers, all set up with bleacher seating. Down the middle of the room was a walkway, with two two layers of bleacher seating on each side. On the far wall of the building were a raised platform with a throne, and two seats next to it. Obviously the throne was for the princess, and the seat to the right was for the seat on the left was for a unicorn named Meadow Belle. Meadow wrote down everything that happened in every War Council meeting. When Rainbow Dash took her seat Celestia was three fourths of the way to her seat. The princess elegantly made her way to her throne, and daintily sat beside Rainbow Dash.

"Welcome, everypony, to the War Council meeting of week 96. We are here today to discuss strategy for the Mountain12 land base. Now I know this ba-" Celestia was cut off.

"We need to send more troops in!" shouted a pegasus as she jumped into the air.

"Ponies die everyday in that base! Sending more in would be a despicable act of an unfeeling dictator!" Rainbow Dash argued in return.

"Yes, I agree with Commander Dash. I don't believe we should send more troops into Mountain12. But we do need to do something because if this war is lost, then Equestria will fall."

"Okay then Princess, what do you want us to do?" asked an Earth pony in the second level. Ponies in every row began to chatter in agreement. The hall soon filled with the noisy voices of the council ponies.

"Everypony... be quiet!" Rainbow Dash shouted over the council.

"I have made a decision." the princess began, "Let it be on record," she directed to Meadow Belle, "the Mountain12 land base will be eradicated, in the 96th week of war, and the troops of said base will be relocated to different bases throughout the Equestrian war front." she finished with a tone of diplomacy.

"Commander Dash, is there anymore business that the council needs to attend to?"

"I don't think so your Majesty." Dash replied.

"Wonderful. I call this meeting of the War Council to an end." Celestia said as she slowly rose from her seat and left the hall with poise. The commander followed close behind, and the ponies of the war council followed, allowing the princess and commander to go before them.

"Rainbow Dash, please train Squad 19 until lunch. After lunch, please meet me in the hall for strategizing."

"Yes, Princess." Dash said and flew off to the residential are to find Squad 19. She flew through the alleys between the living quarters and to the five homes of Squad 19. Each squad was composed of ten ponies. Dash commanded 250 ponies, so there were 25 squads. Because each each house in the base housed two ponies, only five were needed for each squad. She quickly found Squad 19 and told them all to meet by the mess hall for training.

When all the ponies were told where to go, Rainbow went to the 19th generals house, and told him that his squad was being trained near the hall. The general, named Moonstone, a pegasus, was the general. He and Dash flew to the square, the location of the mess hall, council hall, and royal living quarters. The ten ponies of Squad 19 were waiting in the square.

Squad 19 was a pegasus unit, so the first thing Rainbow Dash ordered was wing-ups.

"Come on Privates! I want to see you sweat. Now get down and give me fifty!" she commanded.

The pegasi got down and began their wing-ups in unison, counting together as they pushed themselves up and down. Soon the ponies had completed their warm up exercise, and were standing in front of Dash waiting for another command.

"Alright troops. Time for some laps. I want you all to give me one hundred laps around the base." Dash commanded, "NOW!"

The ten ponies of Squad 19 whizzed off, with a faint breeze washing over Rainbow Dash and Moonstone.

"Moonstone, go watch them, and report to me when they are done." Rainbow directed.

"Yes Ma'am." he returned.

Rainbow flew off to see Meadow Belle. Belle had an office in the hall, and that was where she spent most of her time. She trotted down the middle of the hall, and before she hit the throne and chairs at the end, took a left. To the left of the bleacher seating was Meadow's office. To the right was Celestia's. As expected, Meadow Belle was seated behind her desk with a quill levitated beside her.

"Hi, Meadow." Rainbow greeted.

"Hello Commander. What can I do for you?"

"I just came to see if you sent that letter to Luna."

"Oh yes, just sent it!"

"Wonderful, that's all. Thank you." Dash said as she walked back out the doors of the office. She flew to the doors and flew to where she left General Moonstone. He was no where to be seen, so she assumed he had gone to supervise his troops. Rainbow Dash flew over the boundary cloud walls of the base, to see that the ponies were still racing around the base, and General Moonstone was perched on a cloud, watching carefully to make sure his squad wasn't slacking off.

"How many laps are they up to now?" Dash said as she approached him.

"Their up to 83 now." he responded.

"Okay, I'll be back soon. I need to talk to the princess."

He nodded in acknowledgement, and Dash flew off once more to take care of her responsibilities.

Celestia was in their room, looking at some paperwork.

"Princess, if we are going to dissolve Mountain12, maybe we could house a new squad here? I could have Squad 19 build it in the empty lot in between Squad 1 and 25. That area is only used for training, and we can easily use the square for training anyway." Dash said.

"I like that idea, Commander. Go ahead and have the squad build the new living quarters. After Luna and I have confirmed the elimination of Mountain12, I want you to go with me to decide which ponies will go where."

"Yes your Majesty." Dash bowed and left the room. She returned to Moonstone to find that Squad 19 had finished with their laps. She told the General what they needed to do, and told them to start gathering clouds for construction. She told them that they also needed to make beds, tables, and chests out of the clouds, just like the ones they had in their own homes. Even the general was getting to work to help build the new houses.

Rainbow Dash however, was supervising, "Remember troops! This is still training. I want to see speed and strength!"

After hearing her command the ponies sped up, and a fair sized pile of clouds began to accumulate. After the pile was a size that satisfied Rainbow, she ordered the troops to carry the clouds to the build site. Soon after they began shaping the clouds, it was time for lunch.

"All right troops, lunch time! After lunch, your General will supervise you. I have a meeting the Princess Celestia, and when I'm done I want at least two of the houses built. Have you got that?"

"Yes Ma'am!" they shouted in unison.

* * *

After lunch Rainbow Dash had a brief meeting with Celestia. In the end they decided to withdraw unicorn troops from the north, and place them to the far west. Those troops were going to use their magic to fling rocks into a nearby Crystal Empire base. They were trying to advance on Sombra's territory. The more land they got, the more materials they could harvest.

Hopefully their plan would work, but until then Rainbow had to schedule the arrival of Princess Luna. She sent a letter accepting the invitation and would be here tomorrow. Luna would be there for only half a day, so all that needed to be set up was a meeting between Meadow Belle, the two princesses, and herself. She went to Meadow and told her she was needed tomorrow, and then went to see scedule for the hall. Nothing was scheduled for tomorrow, the hall was open for anyone to meet.

Everything was set up for the arrival of Princess Luna.

* * *

 **(Friday, Week 96)**

Princess Luna's navy blue chariot was pulled by her two most trusted bat pony guards. It landed softly in the square. Luna stepped carefully out of it and was greeted by all 25 Generals, Commander Dash, and Princess Celestia.

"Welcome to Cloud235, sister." Celestia greeted warmly.

"Hello sister. We have much to discuss." Luna replied. "I hear word you plan to neutralize Mountain12."

"Yes." Celestia said as she began her walk to the hall, and directed her sister the same way. They regally walked side by side as two unicorns opened the hall doors in front of them. The doors were closed as the generals filed in behind them. A table was set up in the center of the room with four chairs. The princesses, the general, and Meadow Belle. The generals all sat in the bleacher seats.

The four ponies sat at the table to begin the discussion.

"Now sister, I understand you want to eliminate the Mountain12 land base." Luna began, Meadow Belle was scribbling every word down. This meeting would be quoted word-for-word for the nationwide newspaper. The princess's rarely met, and everypony in the country would want to know exactly what happened.

"Yes. That is correct Luna." Celestia replied.

"And where would the 1500 troops living there go?" Luna retorted.

"I'll let Commander Rainbow Dash explain this." Celestia said giving the floor to Dash.

"The ponies of Mountain12 would be scattered across the other bases. Decided by us of course, we would go to the base and evaluate each pony. based on their ratings they would be sent all over Equestria. Already, the squads of Cloud235 have tarted to build more housing units. We can take one squad here." Rainbow Dash explained.

"All right then. I'm convinced. I am in favor of eliminating Cloud235." Luna said, finalizing the order.


	6. Applejack

**A/N: There are no excuses for how long I was away. I am sorry.  
**

* * *

 **Saturday (Week 96)**

* * *

Applejack awoke to the sound of... of nothing. Not since she sold all her farm animals to pay for the canning machines. She was so used to getting up early that she still woke up, without the rooster to crow to wake her. Today wasn't going to be easy.

They recently had to fire one of their farmponies, because they were short on funds. And the Frontlines representative didn't come to buy their food for another week! Hopefully they would make it through. But until then Applejack was to help harvest the crops, while Big Macintosh oversaw the canning process.

Applejack got out of her bed and put on her saddle-baskets. Like a saddle bag, but with baskets. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, already stormed through by the staff and Big Macintosh. She didn't mean to sleep in, but in any case, there wasn't much left for breakfast. There was however, an apple left, and she took it gratefully. She bit into the juicy apple, relishing in the taste. Nopony got fresh food, unless they grew it themselves.

She set out to the fields. Today she was schedule to harvest the oranges. The orange grove was a short walk from the barn, and the green trees, dotted with orange fruit were beautiful from the slight distance. The trees started in rows, and before the first row was a cart full of baskets. She grabbed two baskets from the cart, and begun to take them all out of the basket, and formed five stacks of baskets.

Today the first three rows needed to be harvested, so there was no need to move the cart . It was already in a good position. Walking towards the first tree, with two baskets in tow she heard a pony from behind her.

"Um hello? Miss?" a nasally voice inquired.

" _What_ do you want now, Thunder Foot?" Applejack returned with her rich country accent.

"This is for you, and there was no one in the house, so I brought it here." he said.

"Alright. Thank you." Applejack said, less harsh than before.

She took the envelope from the stallion and he trotted away, leaning slightly to support his heavy mailbag. Applejack looked at the neat print on the back of the envelope, and aw that it was from Frontlines. This was either really good news, or really bad news.

She opened the envelope, which was made of thing and grainy paper, and unfolded the letter that was held inside. She read what the letter contained, and hoped for the best.

 _"To the pony in charge of Sweet Apple Acres,  
Hello from Frontlines! We regret to inform you that we are short-hoofed this week, and cannot send a pony to collect your goods. If you still wish to sell them to us, and we hope you do, then you can deliver them to us yourself at this address: **2400 Unicorn Street, Manehatten  
** If you do not wish to bring them to us, then you can always wait two months until we are scheduled to collect your goods again. If you are going to bring the goods to us, please have them here by the day we were scheduled for. Hope to see you soon!_

 _\- The ponies from Frontlines"_

So it was really bad news. It would take a long time, and a lot of work to get the food all the way to Manehatten, but the farm would run out of business if they waited another two months. She had no choice, but she would, of course tell the other ponies first.

Instead of moping about the work that was to come, she began on the work that needed to be done today.

* * *

Bucking tree after tree, until the sun was setting. Finally she pounded the last tree of the third row forcefully, and all the fruit fell off. The oranges tumbled into the baskets, and she began to drag the heavy baskets to the cart. The cart was almost full, and when she dumped the last three buckets inside, it was bulging with delicious fruit. Completely filled.

She hooked herself up to the harness in front of the cart, and slowly began pulling the heavy cart towards the canning barn. Mercifully, it was not a long walk and she arrived in no time. Big Mac had stopped the machines to start dinner, and the lights were off inside. She left the cart in the barn, in the spot where everypony left the food for processing, and walked in the other barn for dinner.

Big Mac had made simple tomato sandwiches. Where he got the tomatoes she had no idea. But the flavor was a gift horse, and she wasn't looking for teeth. The tomatoes were ripe and tasty with the bread, and she enjoyed the food while she could before she had to tell the ponies around her the terrible news. Her sandwich was quickly gone, along with the sandwiches of all the other ponies. _Time to face the music._

"Everypony!" she commanded the attention of everypony in the room, "I have some bad news."

That struck a chord, and the work ponies all faced her. She could tell they were all scared they would loose their jobs just like the last pony. "I got a letter from Frontlines, and they ain't sendin' a pony out here to buy our crops."

They workponies gasped. "But they did give us a solution to the problem. They said that I could send somepony out to Manehatten and deliver the goods to them. I know its a long way, and we don't have the money to pay fer a train ticket. So I'm gonna go to Manehatten."

"Applejack! It's too far." Big Mac reasoned with her.

"Well what do you reckon we should do, Big Mac?"

"I'll go instead."

"Are you sure, big brother?"

"Eeyup."

And with that dinner was over, and everypony went to bed.

* * *

 **(Sunday, Week 97)**

Today everypony on the farm was getting up early. They all had to help pile the goods into a big wagon for Big Mac. Because f Big Mac's strength, the wagon was all but empty. Cans, bottles, and boxes were piled in the cart, with no empty space to spare. After every farm-hoof had helped load the cart, Big Mac was ready to go. He had a map, water, and plenty of his own food to eat along the way. Once he had said his goodbyes, he was off. Trotting into the distance with the bulging cart in tow.

"Alright everypony, no time for sitting around. We got work to do." Applejack yelled to the ponies around her. At the sound of her demanding voice, they scattered to do the jobs that had been previously assigned to them.

Instead of canning like he usually did, Applejack was helping Blossom Thunder tend the grapevines. She found Blossom loading a cart with tools, and took up the front to pull the wagon. Once Blossom was done, they two of them started towards the grapevines. The vines were a fair distance away, so the two of them went as fast as they could without toppling the cart.

Eventually the grapes came into sight, and the ponies unloaded their tools and other equipment. Starting their work, Applejack started on the left and Blossom Thunder to the right. They both expertly tilled the soil, pushing minerals to the roots of the plants, then watered them to id with their growth. In no time at all they had finished the first row of grapevines, and had begun on the second. The steps were repeated several times, and before long the sun was setting.

Applejack watched the sunset and thought to herself, _That always has been the one constant in this ever-changin' world. No matter where Celestia stations herself, she always manages to set the sun on time._

"Come on Blossom, we best head in for dinner." Applejack said out loud, putting an end to the days work. Blossom Thunder volunteered to pull the wagon this time and the headed off back to the barn.


End file.
